By Charly
May 25 2006

Lead by experienced and hard working coach Luis Aragonés, the Spanish national team will try to improve their past results in World Cups by presenting a young team rich in technique. Aragonés has formed a complete technical staff to aid the squad and develop the team’s possibilities of success. The Spanish team we will see in Germany will be young, talented and playing nice attacking football. Aragonés knows his side is inexperienced, but he chose to bear this burden in order to privilege the abilities and skills of the young players over the experience of not so technical experienced ones. Being the squad’s average age 24, the coach didn’t just sit with his arms crossed, but on the contraire, he formed a big technical staff to aid the squad and help them develop their game and do their best in the World Cup.

The technical staff, which might be the largest in the World cup, not only has the typical members (manager, assistant manager, ‘keeper coach, physical coach, physios, doctor), but Aragonés has added a second assistant manager and two psychologists, who are the big surprise. Welcomed by both the staff and the players, they are said to carry out the important task of running the mental and psychological training, which Aragonés considers to be indispensable, as he believes that “the one in best psychological shape is the one that wins”.

On the pitch, the coach has decided to play 4-3-3, combined with 4-2-3-1. The biggest surprises in the squad are that Liverpool’s Fernando Morientes and Valencia’s Rubén Baraja are not part of it and won’t be going to Germany. On the other hand, the born Brazilian midfielder Marcos Senna got the Spanish nationality in time and will be wearing the red top in Germany, while Argentinian full back Mariano Pernía, wanted by the public opinion, was not so lucky.

The goalkeeper will be Casillas, while Cañizares and José Reina will wait for their chance in the bench.

The right full back will be a Real Madrid player, with Michel Salgado and Sergio Ramos as the only options. On the left, Asier Del Horno and Antonio López will fight for a place in the lineup. And Pablo, Marchena or Juanito will be completing the central pairing with Puyol.

Out of David Albelda, Francesc Fabregas, Xavi and Xabi Alonso will come the two defensive midfielders, but Cesc and Xavi could also be played as the more offensive midfielder. Senna and Iniesta are the other options to these positions, since they were picked for being versatile and thus able to play in many positions in this system. These two players, for instance, can also play on the wings, but for these roles Joaquín, Luis García and José Reyes are the main choices.

Only three strikers were picked, and only one will get to play. David Villa is the main candidate, he has had a great season with Valencia and has played well for Spain too. Fernando Torres is the second option, but Raúl is a very important player and, apart from being able to play on the wing, he won’t be easily left in the bench.

Xavi and Raúl have spent most of the season badly injured and need to regain football practice. Still, Aragonés is confident that both players will recover well and have a good World Cup, so despite being unable to count with them for months, it is likely that they will eventually play a big role in the Cup, since they are undoubtedly two of the most influential and important players in the squad.

Despite having an unsuccessful history on their backs, Spain looks committed to have a good Cup and get to the latter stages. Aragonés seems to know very well what he wants and works very hard to give his team a good game and identity. Should he achieve this, Spain will be dangerous when going forwards, playing wide, with the ball down on the ground being passed around nicely. With the amount of quality the squad possesses, Spain is in a position of being able to control the matches by controlling the ball, and with players like Xavi, Cesc and Xabi Alonso, good distribution is guaranteed, as well as good tempo dictation. In players like Reyes, García and Joaquín, the combination of pace and dribbling skills is enough to put any defense in red alert, and David Villa, Raúl and Torres are the right men to adapt to this game and finish off the moves.

Defense might be a harder task though, since the only truly defensive midfielder in the squad is Albelda, and the wings may be the weakest link, since the full backs would have a lot of running to do and will probably face difficult challenges when facing pacey top class rival forwards. Still, the biggest problem is the lack of aerial power, only Pablo is taller than the average player, and while they won’t be creating much trouble through the air in attack, they will have to be extra-cautious in defense.

Goalkeepers: 1- Casillas, 19- Cañizares, 23- Reina

Defenders: 2- Michel Salgado, 3- Del Horno, 4- Marchena, 5- Puyol, 12- Antonio López, 15- Sergio Ramos, 20- Juanito, 22- Pablo

Midfielders: 6- Albelda, 8- Xavi, 11- Luis García, 13- Iniesta, 14- Xabi Alonso, 16- Senna, 17- Joaquín, 18- Cesc Fabregas

Forwards: 7- Raúl, 9- Torres, 10- Reyes, 21- Villa

Join us for the world cup, where we aim to provide something a little different from the rest; we have writers from all over Europe and even one in South America.

We will be concentrating on the news not readily available in England, all translated and waiting to debate.

So join us for the greatest tournament in the world, with a healthy dose of cynicism thrown in for free.